The politicians now in Washington can't fix what is wrong with the economy. Whatever they do is going to be bad for the American taxpayer.

First of all, they do not understand what they have done in tearing down our great economy, and, not understanding this, they cannot grasp what needs to be done to fix it. They are like the blind hog rooting around for an acorn, which is continually elusive.

Many of them, even after running up terrible deficits, want to keep spending without limit, chief among them the president. This alone guarantees further problems, with there being no end in sight regarding when we will be able to pay our debt. This will require more and more of our money, thus diminishing our standard of living.

Politicians have used taxpayers as chumps and we have reacted as chumps. They have come up with all kinds of dreams and have seen us as being responsible for paying for them and we have paid for them, often without a whimper.

We need people under the Capitol dome and in the president's office who understand what makes an economy great. It is not money in the hands of politicians, who don't know how to spend it and make it more productive. Money in the hands of citizens will always produce more and better results than money in the hands of politicians. This is a basic truth politicians do not understand.

Taking money from a productive person and giving to someone with sound mind and body sitting at home waiting on the monthly government check is at the core of our economic problems. Politicians completely own this problem and there is little to no indication they understand this. Again, not understanding, they will do more of it, plunging us into further economic problems.

The people waiting at home on the government check, of course, have voted for and cheered on the taking of money from others and giving to them. In the process, they have become the laziest, most unproductive people in the history of our country and many of them can now be called beggars. And, as we all know, beggars will always want more. What they are given today will not be adequate for tomorrow and they will demand more, not realizing or caring about the damage they are doing to this country.

Saving people from themselves is not the role of government, but this has been at the core of what liberal Democrats and some Republicans in Washington have done for at least the past 80 years. The results are plain to see, with us now poised to plunge over the financial cliff. The taxpayers are the victims of this and now those who have caused this mess are again looking at us as the chumps who must pay for it.

The politicians can't fix the mess we are in. They will make it worse. In the long run, it might be best for us to plunge over the cliff. Perhaps then the politicians and beggars would gain some insight into how their actions have so severely damaged the greatest nation in the history of the world.Roger Bolton lives in Conyers.